Sources: Royals Acquire James Shields, Wade Davis from Rays

[JB98]

Originally Posted by doublem23

The Royals farm system has been stocked with "MVP potential" talent for years and it hasn't produced an 80-win season since 2003.

I like this move a lot for Kansas City. Unfortunately.

Agreed. All the people who love prospects hate this move by Kansas City. If I'm a Royals fan, I'm dancing on the ceiling right now. Shields is a legit top-of-the-rotation guy. Davis is a nice back-end guy. I know he worked in the bullpen last year, but I still think he can start.

Kansas City has a viable rotation now with Shields, Guthrie, Santana, Davis and Chen. I wouldn't pick them to win the division, but only a fool would take them lightly.

[lizard6king6]

I think this is a fairly even deal in the long run. However, as many said it does make the Royals better now. they finally have some solid pitching. Tampa in return got a real nice young player who has ton of potential but has not proven anything yet.

[gosox41]

Originally Posted by PaleHoser

Link

Royals are finally getting some starting pitchers to go with that lineup. Lookout.

I didn't realize it until I read it today that the Royals scored the fewest runs out of any team in the AL Central. I am out sick today and not feeling well so I may have read it wrong, but I thought I got that from foxsports.com.


Bob

[johnnyg83]

Cleveland scored less ... but not by much

[DSpivack]

Originally Posted by gosox41

I didn't realize it until I read it today that the Royals scored the fewest runs out of any team in the AL Central. I am out sick today and not feeling well so I may have read it wrong, but I thought I got that from foxsports.com.


Bob

Originally Posted by johnnyg83

Cleveland scored less ... but not by much

Cleveland was 2nd, KC 3rd in the AL, both of them well ahead of Seattle.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2012.shtml

[johnnyg83]

Originally Posted by DSpivack

Cleveland was 2nd, KC 3rd in the AL, both of them well ahead of Seattle.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/AL/2012.shtml

gosh we were last in doubles

[shes]

This could end up being a notoriously bad trade for KC in the long run. They're mortgaging future riches for a few expensive seasons from a #2 and #5 starter. They had Myers for peanuts for the next 6 years and gave him up (along with 2 very solid prospects) for a pitcher on the wrong side of thirty. As a Sox fan, I love this trade, but as a fan of baseball, it sucks.

[CoopaLoop]

Will Myers, a top 5 prospect in baseball and their two best pitching prospects for James Shields and Wade Davis.

That is insane. Congrats on reaching mediocrity while mortgaging the future.

I can't believe they just made this move.

[Mr. Jinx]

Originally Posted by CoopaLoop

Will Myers, a top 5 prospect in baseball and their two best pitching prospects for James Shields and Wade Davis.

That is insane. Congrats on reaching mediocrity while mortgaging the future.

I can't believe they just made this move.

I know, I love this move. The Royals just gave themselves a chance to go .500 for the next 2 years in return for crushing any chance of them becoming a real threat down the road.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by johnnyg83

gosh we were last in doubles

Short fences and clean OF lines makes Sox Park a very notorious doubles-unfriendly park.

[doublem23]

Originally Posted by Mr. Jinx

I know, I love this move. The Royals just gave themselves a chance to go .500 for the next 2 years in return for crushing any chance of them becoming a real threat down the road.

Oh please, before Myers it was Hosmer. Before Hosmer it was Moustakas. Before Moustakas it was Gordon. Only Gordon is even an average MLB player at this point. This is a bad move only on the day you get a trophy for having the world's best farm system. As long as MLB production is the name of the game, KC made a nice move. They have plenty of young, up and coming position players. They desperately needed pitching. They play in a division that only requires 85-90 wins. They're a real threat in the Central now.

[Wedema]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Oh please, before Myers it was Hosmer. Before Hosmer it was Moustakas. Before Moustakas it was Gordon. Only Gordon is even an average MLB player at this point. This is a bad move only on the day you get a trophy for having the world's best farm system. As long as MLB production is the name of the game, KC made a nice move. They have plenty of young, up and coming position players. They desperately needed pitching. They play in a division that only requires 85-90 wins. They're a real threat in the Central now.

I agree that this is a good move for KC but Hosmer and Moustakas both only have one full season under their belt. It is too early to call them below average MLB players.

[WhiteSox5187]

Originally Posted by Wedema

I agree that this is a good move for KC but Hosmer and Moustakas both only have one full season under their belt. It is too early to call them below average MLB players.

And they are both 23 and 24 respectively.

[ComiskeyBrewer]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Oh please, before Myers it was Hosmer. Before Hosmer it was Moustakas. Before Moustakas it was Gordon. Only Gordon is even an average MLB player at this point. This is a bad move only on the day you get a trophy for having the world's best farm system. As long as MLB production is the name of the game, KC made a nice move. They have plenty of young, up and coming position players. They desperately needed pitching. They play in a division that only requires 85-90 wins. They're a real threat in the Central now.

Bingo. AAA is full of former "can't miss" prospects who never panned out(although it is still early to say that about Hosmer and Moustakas). Myers could be the next Matt Laporta for all we know(or on the other hand, the next Braun). Did they give up too much? Only time will tell on that one, but you need to make a choice; try to win now and gamble on the future, or play it "safe" and hope your prospects aren't duds.

[shes]

Originally Posted by doublem23

Oh please, before Myers it was Hosmer. Before Hosmer it was Moustakas. Before Moustakas it was Gordon. Only Gordon is even an average MLB player at this point. This is a bad move only on the day you get a trophy for having the world's best farm system. As long as MLB production is the name of the game, KC made a nice move. They have plenty of young, up and coming position players. They desperately needed pitching. They play in a division that only requires 85-90 wins. They're a real threat in the Central now.

Gordon has actually become one of the best outfielders in the AL over the last two seasons and Moustakas did pretty well for his first full season in 2012. Among AL third basemen, only Beltre and Cabrera were clearly better. If you're including the NL, you can add Freese, Headley, Wright, Zimmerman, and A. Ramirez. He was about on par with Alvarez, H. Ramirez, Lawrie, and Seager. So at best he was the eighth best player at his position and at worst the 12th.

Only Hosmer is a bust at this point (and he's still young enough to turn it around). Gordon is near-elite, a perennial fringe All-Star, and Moustakas is already a slightly better than average third basemen with huge potential.

But anyway, Myers is a better prospect than any of those guys, and what they got in return for him + several good prospects is underwhelming at best. Top prospects often bust, true, but #1-type hitting prospects rarely do; at worst they become solid every-day players. It's quite rare for a Wil Myers to become a Todd Van Poppel.

I can't believe this is the best they could get for that package. And if it was, I can't believe they pulled the trigger. It just doesn't make sense to mortgage a future that included a blue-chip position player for what most likely will amount to no more than a couple 85 win seasons. I'd understand it if they were closer to truly contending than they are, but we're talking about a team with huge holes on both offense and defense that just chose to plug one hole while opening up another.

I found the write-up at THT to be quite good -- http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/ar...r-the-future7/ -- it's actually very even-handed and takes a kinder stance toward the Royals move than most.